New owners for Montrose business networking group

The North of Scotland operation of the world’s largest face-to-face business networking and referral organisation has new owners.

BNI Scotland North has been acquired by husband and wife, Bryan and Angela Kinghorn, from north-east of Scotland businessmen Rob Hamilton and Trevor Mutch.

The value of the deal has not been disclosed.

Rob and Trevor have increased membership from 90 to 280 across BNI North’s 10 networking groups – six in Aberdeen and one each in Montrose, Inverurie, Elgin and Inverness.

Members meet once a week for around two hours to network and pass introductions to other businesses.

An additional group, the first to be launched by the Kinghorns, is to be held at Aberdeen’s Atholl Hotel. BNI Solar will meet every Wednesday from 11.30am to 1.30pm.

Rob, chief executive of IT and technology business Dynamic Edge, and Trevor, owner and managing director of commercial and residential painter and decorator R Davidson (Banchory) Ltd, will continue to lead BNI Scotland Central.

It has four business networking groups – one each in Dunfermline and Perth, and two in Dundee. They plan to expand into St Andrews, Stirling, Glenrothes and Kirkcaldy and grow the membership from 100 to 250.

Latest figures reveal BNI Scotland North and BNI Scotland Central generated £12.9m of business for members, a 222% increase on the £4m total recorded when Rob and Trevor acquired the business in October 2014

Bryan will continue in his role as operations manager at Bon Accord Glass, and Angela will continue to drive business development for accountants Henderson Loggie as both look to continue the success of BNI Scotland North. Both have been BNI members for over four years and have been director consultants for the past year.

Rob said: “Trevor and I had a set goal in mind of where we wanted to take BNI Scotland North. We’ve now achieved that, and are pleased to pass the baton on to Bryan and Angela. I’m confident they will take it to the next level.”

Bryan said: “We believe in the BNI model and have witnessed first-hand how it has helped businesses to grow. We’re delighted with the acquisition and look forward to working hard with our members in the coming years.”

Angela said: “This was too good an opportunity to turn down. It’s a big responsibility but an exciting one. We have strong and ambitious groups across the North of Scotland, and we’ll be looking to add to those as we move forward.”

Trevor added: “Bryan and Angela are a great team and ideally placed to lead BNI Scotland North into an exciting new era. Rob and I are now turning our focus upon BNI Scotland Central, where we see huge potential for growth.”

BNI Scotland North is rated the 15th best performing group in the global BNI organisation, which spans 814 regions in 65 countries. BNI is the largest business networking referral organisation in the world.

North of Scotland and Central members also have access to more than 13,000 members in the UK and Ireland and more than 200,000 others worldwide. BNI (Business Network International) was founded by Dr Ivan Misner in the United States in 1985.

In 2015, BNI passed 660,000-plus referrals worth more than £421million in the UK and Ireland alone.

For more information about how to join BNI Solar – the only lunchtime group in BNI Scotland North – email enquiries@bniscotlandnorth.co.uk or visit www.bniscotlandnorth.com.